Awesome indie punk bandDammit, from India, recently opened up a pretty sweet Fan Questions page linking to their Facebook. Not knowing much about the music scene in India, this post’s title was my question. This was their response:

Q: What’s the music scene like in India?

A: oh wow! big question! lol. well its pretty messed up. there’s very little support for independent music since the whole nation has been brainwashed to think that the only source of music in the universe is Bollywood movies. Even if some band gets a good fan base on their own, its tough to play gigs coz there are very few good venues and they overcharge the fans and many dont pay the bands either. All the gigs happen in like 4 or 5 cities in the entire country and all the other towns don’t have any venues for playing live music and people just don’t have much of the culture of going to gigs so touring isn’t really a great option.

There are very few independent labels that help musicians but we are not very experienced in dealing with them so we don’t know much about them.

All the major gigs happen at college festivals where bands do get paid to perform. earlier, all people wanted was covers but the scene is very slowly changing and people are becoming receptive to original music now.

It will get better..the thing to remember is that the web is the new structural base, or platform, for the music industry, and the web, by nature, is capable of spanning the globe. This will mean that if the web can make the music industry better, it will do so for the whole world, and trust me, the web can make the music industry better. Give it time, and just keep making great music!

Rhyne McCormick is a strong believer in music and that its healing power could save one’s soul. He is constantly proving that statement with each song on Live at The Cap Theatre. McCormick, a blend of folk, country, and the blues, hails from the great state of Pennsylvania. Armed with simply an acoustic guitar, McCormick brings his musicianship alive with powerful vocals and catchy guitar riffs.

Being a solo artist, it is truly amazing how much musical presence he brings with just his voice and guitar. McCormick is an extremely talented guitar player and even a better vocalist and song writer. If you are in PA and have a chance to catch Rhyne out on the road, I promise you will not be disappointed. If not, you’ll have to wait til he continues his musical journey to a music venue near you but either way, Live at The Cap Theatre will definitely keep you entertained until the time comes..

Though the above picture is somewhat skewing in it’s portrayal of current lyrics, it’s also partially right on point. Lyrics, in the early part of this millennium (in the pop music hemisphere) have officially hit an all time low for creativity and meaning.

For me, lyrics make up 80% of a song’s appeal. Anyone can write a sweet guitar lick that can be appreciated by anybody..I did it the other day my first time touching a guitar. It’s a lot harder to fit actual words with meaning into an ordered phrase that can then easily emanate throughout society. But I feel like a lot of people stopped trying!

I myself write lyrics, and I take a lot of time with them. Lyrics are the most important thing a band or artist can focus on, besides the live re-production of them. Don’t just use cliches or feel good phrases..take more than 2 minutes to think about your next line before you actually write it down. Try to create new dimensions, new thoughts, and new pictures within people’s minds when you write your lyrics. Visualize what you want to portray and sculpt it with the words. At least paint a scene with some depth to it. If you were to paint the picture of “G6” above, it’d look exactly like every other club pop hit out in the last decade…I’m getting pretty tired of that shit, how bout you?

What happened to lyrics like Imagine by John Lennon, or Changes by Tupac? The song doesn’t have to be weak or lame because the lyrics are good, or because they’re not talking about popping bottles or “making it rain.” Trust me, even though the mainstream might be pumping that shit heavily right now, that shit is wack, and it will be dead soon enough.

Another big factor that will contribute to the downfall of horrible music, most commonly heard on “the radio,” will be the downfall of major record labels. Labels, the ones with the monetary keys to the major studios – have long had their hand in deciding which music comes out, and essentially, which words get said. If a label doesn’t like a song an artist did for their album, they can deny it and demand another song be cut. Obviously you can see the trend the labels have been following over the last decade, basically only letting music through that meets the same criteria over and over again. They seem to want to reinforce a certain – party – anesthetized – ignorant to the real world – kind of mental portrayal in the songs they put out, and quite frankly, it’s got a lot of people pissed off.

I think that this will go away once we see a retreat in the major label stronghold over mass distribution and marketing, which is going on now. The web continues to push the envelope of what’s now possible, and independent artists, free of this way of thinking, will establish a new standard, using a new platform (the web), that will actually allow these artists to take things farther than the Labels and the previous model would even allow. This is happening as I speak. Power is shifting back into the artist’s hands, and with that power, will eventually come the major studios.

If you’re a lyric writer, please, stay real. If you want to hear what some real lyrics sound like, check out my man Emmanuel Jackson ripping up this verse. This is why I say a lot of mainstream writers are in trouble. Lyrics that are dope and mean something will kill every time. You just can’t fck with this shit:

To many people in the world it feels like only yesterday, when John Lennon was gunned down outside of his New York home 30 years ago to the date. Let’s have a moment of silence to one of the greatest musical writers to ever step on stage. Mr. Lennon has inspired and changed the lives of many human beings with his indescribable ability to connect with millions ranging from multiple generations outside of his own. This guy taught the beatles how to be THE Beatles!!! Rolling Stone interview writer Jonathan Cott has confessed to having many statements from John 4 days prior to his death from an interview that was briefly mentioned in the January 1981 issue. Be on the lookout for this release on the Rolling Stone site as well to hear some of Lennon’s last documented words.

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